After opening the day on a positive note, share markets in India have maintained their momentum and are presently trading in the green. Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note with stocks in the realty sector, energy sector, and consumer durable sector witnessing maximum buying interest.

The BSE Sensex is trading up 74 points (up 0.3%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up 23 points (up 0.3%). The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.4%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.9%. The rupee is trading at 64.57 to the US$.

The offer for sale (OFS) of Nalco got good response from the investors. This was seen with the retail portion subscribed 3.17 times on the second and last day of the offer after institutional investors bid 1.84 times on Wednesday.

The National Aluminum Company Ltd (Nalco) OFS was marked as the first divestment by the government in the current fiscal. The government (the promoter) intends to use the Nalco OSF to sell up to 10% of its stake in Nalco.

In the Budget 2017-18, the government set an ambitious divestment target of Rs 725 billion. How much of this gets achieved remains to be seen.

As per media reports, the government collected over Rs 460 billion through divestment in 2016-17. If one has to look back, the government has failed to meet its divestment target over the past few years, as can be seen in the chart below:

Disinvestment Realisations Fall Short of Target

Moving on to the news from the global financial markets... The Federal Reserve is seeking feedback from fund managers on how the central bank should tailor and exit its record holdings of Treasuries and mortgaged-backed securities.

This comes as the Fed intents to shrink its balance sheet. Most Fed policymakers think the central bank should take steps to trim its US$4.5 trillion balance sheet later this year as long as the economic data holds up.

However, the above move would tighten financial conditions and could affect the pace of rate rises. Normalising the balance sheet could also impact emerging markets. Since 2008, the Fed's swelling balance sheet has propped up the US economy. It also aided the rally in emerging markets all these years. Any change to the Fed's balance sheet will have an immediate impact on emerging stock markets.

Apart from that, the move would cause bond prices to fall as the Fed starts to sell bonds as it normalises its balance sheet. The move would also strengthen the dollar as the Fed will reduce the volume of currency in circulation.